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When the World held the international conference on slowing global-warming, scientists from MIT appeared. And they named a project over the capitol city where it was held. Hence:

The Copenhagen Wheel. For about $500.

There have been many prototypes for awhile now to make such a reality, and now it's a year, or less, from the market. And MIT doesn't mess around. So it's time any conscientious bicycle-mechanic start seeing what is likely to come down the road.

We can fight later about "is this a REAL bicycle?" or such. But as a friend of mine pointed out - this could popularize this form of transportation to people of all ages that simply have hills in their way. Transport & environmental protection. All wrapped into one - and many others.

This is not a debate-thread. This is about asking bike-mechanics to help iron it out. Please keep debate and fighting to a minimum. If you have something positive to add - don't hesitate to write, call, or email.

I'm confused about what kind of feedback you want. It appears to be an e-assist bike motor hub where they cleverly crammed all the components into the hub. I'm also curious whether or not these will be serviceable at all. Do you have any more detailed technical information other than the few paragraphs on the MIT website? Also, how much do they want for these? The cost would have to be pretty low before people would start to buy them.

If you are a bike-mechanic and have worked in the field for a long time - just point out improvements that can/should be made. Right down to available colors. The is an international - just like MIT - group. What they lack are ideas from those who such equipped bikes will be brought to if/when something goes wrong. And all other input you can think of.

Don't be shy! Help them with your knowledge of bikes. These folks can make a nuclear-reactor roll down the street. They are isolative and incredibally intelligent. Telling them the most likely to sell a bike if it's colored__________, will help. They are doing this because they know if we don't stop polluting with CO2, they will kick themselves for having children who will need to look for safe enclaves after the polar ice-cap goes the way of the Buffalo.

"The Copenhagen Wheel differs from other electric bikes in that all components are
elegantly packaged into one hub. There is no external wiring or bulky battery packs,
making it retrofittable into any bike. Inside the hub, we have arranged a motor,
3-speed internal hub gear, batteries, a torque sensor, GPRS and a sensor kit that
monitors CO, NOx, noise (db), relative humidity and temperature. In the future,
you will be able to spec out your wheel according to your riding habits and needs. "

I'd move the batteries to the bike frame to reduce rotational weight.

I'd ditch all the geek electronics to reduce cost.

I would not make it red.

I don't want to have to use a smartphone to use the "Wheel".

Oh, and ditch the "must buy this in order to save the polar bears" preaching. MIT did this because they needed a way to score lots of government cheese. If they really want to sell this product, they'll worry less about carbon emissions and more about how to get manufacturing costs down and how to get a company like Trek to build a bike using their product. Or maybe they put in all the monitoring stuff in order to score even more gov't. cheese in the form of governments buying these bikes for the masses.

E-assist systems have been around for a long time. Overcome the reasons why they aren't more popular and they might just have something worth selling.